Rotary shingle-cutter



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

VILLIAM BEVARD, OF ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI.

ROTARY SHINGLE-CUTTER.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 17,254, dated May 12, 1857.

To all whom 2'15 may concern.'

Be it known that I, 7WILLIAM Bavaro, of the city of St. Louis and Stateof Missouri, have invented a new and useful Improvement onShingle-Machines; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full,clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to theannexed drawing, making a part of this specification, in which-- Figurel shows a plan, Fig. Q a` front and Fig. 3 a side elevation.

My invention is-an improvement on the rotating shingle machine, andconsists in modifying the form of the knife so as to cause it to cut theshingle from the point to the butt without checking it, and of providingthe machine with an automatic feeding apparatus, to be adjusted with thefeet of the operato-r, so as to leave his hands at liberty-to preparethe succeeding block, by which it lnay be operated with greater safety;as the hands of the operator will not be endangered by the knives, andwith greater rapidity, because the machine can be constantly suppliedwith material.

To enable others to make and use my invention, I will proceed todescribe the construction and operation of an ordinary rotating shinglemachine, with the improvement attached. r

A A is the frame of the machine.

B is the cutting wheel.

C is a shaft upon which it is fixed, and D D are pulleys to which thepower is applied.

E and F are knives fixed against the cutting wheel, over slots cutdiagonally through it as shown by the dotted lines at G, Fig. 1.

Against the frame of the machine, I fix the horizontal table H and in itI cut a right angular slot, which serves as a guide to the gripping barI as shown at s and 10Fig. 1.

Between the frame legs A A I fix the shaft J, so as to vibrate on itsown axis, and in it I insert the gripping bar I so as to vibrate freelyon a line with the face of the cutting wheel, and in this same shaft Ialso fix the levers K and L on opposite sides with each other, and onthe lever T I hang the weight M as shown. In each of the legs A A I fixa pin, Q Q and on each. of them I place a sheave. I then secure twocards to the bar I and lead one over each sheave, and secure the end ofone to the lever N, and the end of the other to the weight O, as shown.

P is an oblique table upon which the block or bolt is placed to beoperated upon by the knives.

Now .suppose the block to be placed as shown by the red lines at It. Theoperator arranges it in the required position then places hisfoot on thelever N which brings the bar I to a vertical position, and opposite theslot S in the table H. The weight M on the lever L, then forces thegripper T against the block, which holds it against the face of thewheel, while the knives cut it in shingles, thus leaving the operatorfree to'prepare another block, while the preceding one is ruimingthrough the machine ;-H which being done, he places his foot on thelever K and throws the bar I to the slot u into which it is drawn by theact-ion of the weight O, to the position shown on the drawings. Thetable is thus left clear for the operator to adjust another block,-asbefore and so on, keeping the machine constantly supplied.

The knives E and F are set with their edges, on lines radiating from thecenter to the periphery of the wheel, and their cutting planes are setat different angles with its face so that one knife shall cut theshingle with the butt from one end of the block, and the other shall cutit with the butt from the opposite end, so that each revolution of thewheel will out a parallel strip from the block, equal in thickness totwo shingles, as shown at Fig. Now

according to the condition of the knives and the posit-ion of the blockR, each knife will strike the end of the block nearest the center of thewheel, first, and in doing so, the one will cut the butt, and the otherthe point, of the shingle from that end, and I find by experiment, thatwhen both knives are made parallel, as shown at E the shingle that iscut with the butt first willrnot be checked, but the one cut with thepoint first will be, and the reason of this is, because the knife inadvancing increases the thickness of the shingle by cutting across thegrain of the wood, from the point to the butt. And as the knife actsdiagonally across the block, the heel precedes the point, and acts as awedge, between the block, and the point of the shingle, against thegrain of the wood, thus causing a t-endency to split, and as soon as theknife cuts the butt from the block this splitting tendency takes eect,and checks the shingle as fast as the knife advances.

The above object-ions always occur, When the point of the shingle is cutfirst., with a straight edge knife. But I find by experiment, that I canovercome this objection by using a curved knife in the place of astraight one, for cutting the shingle from the point toward the butt.7The advantage of this is, that the point of the shingle is cut entirelyoff, before the knife strikes the butt, so that` the splitting tendencyinduced by the knife, is equalized across the entire Width of theshingle, before the butt is cut, and the knife then advancing With arapidly increasing velocity toward the butt pares off the shingle With adrawing out, so as to leave it smooth and sound. The red lines at Fig. 2illustrate the principle.

I claim as my invention- The combination of the above describedautomatic feeding apparatus, With the rotating shingle machine, abovedescribed, and also the curved knife, as shown at F for the purposespecified, when combined as above described.

WILLIAM BEVARD. Vitnesses AMos Bnoaniuxx, MATTHIAS STIGERS.

